Thinking About...

My opinion on various subjects that come to mind. These personal opinions were developed over a lifetime of experiences as a: student, Air Force veteran, insurance salesman, husband, friend, lover, father, grand father, reader, world traveler, chess player, and bridge player.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

“Yes it can”, says professor Ruff who is currently
conducting experiments on the island of Little Exuma. He is trying to eliminate
a troublesome side affect from his Magic Flashlight which converts evil people
to good people but makes them laugh uncontrollably. The professor is in
downtown George Town blinking his flashlight at the local natives and then
studying their resulting actions. His first test subject, after being blinked
at, mugs an old lady and steals her purse, but then helps her across the street.
Another subject robs a bank but then contributes the money to the Salvation
Army. So it appears that the blinking flashlight creates both evil and good.
The good news is neither subject was laughing uncontrollably. They were just giggling.
So progress is being made. The professor is adjusting the frequency of the
flashes to fine tune its affect. I will be reporting on his continuing research
in next week’s paper. Let’s hope for some good news.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Professor Ruff said to Gelos, “I disagree with you.
The laughter created by my magic flashlight and the conversion of evil people
into peace loving good people is a positive step towards peace on earth. We
just need to moderate the laughing effect so that the laughter is controllable.”

Jasmine Loverly asked
the professor, “If the laughter is moderated, will that also reduce the effect
on evil people?”

Professor Ruff said, “Yes,
it might make them half good and half evil which would make them confused about
who and what they are. But that would be better than having them be all evil.”

The freelance thinker
said, “Everyone is part good and part evil. We just need to make sure the good
side is stronger than the evil side. Is there a way to accomplish that?”

Ruff said, “Maybe,
but I will have to do some experimenting to find out. I will try blinking the
flashlight on and off and see what happens.” Professor Ruff went into George
Town, Little Exuma, and began blinking his flashlight at the local natives and
then studied their behavior. Lois Lane went with him to write a science article
for the New York Times about the experiment. Hairy and the committee for
creating good in the world were hopeful that the experiment would have good
results. That is everyone except the Tsar.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hairy welcomed Gelos and took him to meet the rest
of the team at his luxurious Island villa. After introductions, Hairy asked
Gelos to explain how he would help the cause of creating good in the world.
Gelos said, “Well first of all, I think I should explain how and why laughter
is good for the world. Together, we can lead the world to health, happiness,
and peace through laughter. The Copernican principal explains why laughter will
be still around a million years from now. According to Nicolaus Copernicus
things that have been around for a long time are likely to be around longer
than things that have not been around for such a long time.

Laughter will be around longer than anything else.
Laughter is likely to last longer than hatred, war, and other evil things. We
just need to help laughter to: reduce stress, release negative emotions, help
people to relax, make us feel good, strengthen our immune systems, lower blood pressure,
and connect to others, be fun to be with. Laughter is contagious and shared
laughter promotes bonding, unity and solidarity within a group while having
fun. But it must be done naturally without the use of a magic flashlight. The
question is, why aren’t people laughing more??"

Monday, September 8, 2014

Eventually, after
thousands of years, the majority of mankind accepted the idea of there being
only one supreme God. This supreme God replaced belief in all of the existing
pagan gods that were worshiped by the ancients. The god of laughter, Gelos, was
not happy about being replaced and decided to stick around and keep an eye on
things.

When Gelos became aware
of the magic flashlight technology, he was greatly concerned about its use to
create laughter. As far as he was concerned, the only legitimate ways to create
laughter were amusing jokes, entertainment and drinking wine until everything
seemed funny. There used to be wonderful festivals when everyone got drunk and
made toasts to the god of laughter. Those were the happiest days. Gelos did not
think that laughter should come from a magic flashlight regardless of other
goodness that might be created. Gelos decided to join Hairy and the committee
for creating good in the world. He arrived on Little Exuma Island in one of
Apollo’s ships and announced that he was there to help the cause.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Hairy took the next flight to Zurich and met with
professor Ruff who said he would be willing to join the committee for creating
more good in the world. However, the professor warned Hairy that his magic
flashlight had a side effect that he was still trying to eliminate. Hairy
asked, “What is the side effect?”

The professor said,” After being exposed to the
magic flashlight, people become afflicted with uncontrollable laughter which makes
it impossible for them to carry on a conversation.”

Hairy said, “Well, what’s so bad about that. If evil
people are changed into loving good people who can’t stop laughing, what’s the
harm of that?”

Professor Ruff said, “I am not sure but it just
doesn’t seem right. I am worried about it.” I think the side effect should be
eliminated before we use the flashlight for large applications.”

Hairy said, “Let’s move your laboratory to the
island of Little Exuma where you can continue to work on the side effect
problem with the help of the committee for creating good in the world. I will
assign Jasmine Loverly to serve as your personal assistant.”

After seeing a photograph of the beautiful Jasmine
Loverly, the professor quickly agreed to make the move.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

When it was the Freelance Thinkers turn to
brainstorm, he told the group about a Zurich science professor, Doctor
Christian Ruff, who invented a magic flashlight that created a light that
stimulates people’s brains so that they have behavioral changes. These changes positively change people to care about others and become more peaceful. Evil
is darkness. Good is light. Give everyone a magic flashlight and there will
only be good in the world. The Freelance Thinker suggested that they encourage
Doctor Ruff to collaborate with their group.

Hairy said, “That’s it! That is exactly what we
need. I will fly to Zurich and convince Dr. Ruff to make his technology
available to us. Then we will develop a larger version of the flashlight that
can be used to shine its light on the trouble areas of the world such as Syria
and Iraq. This will convert the Isis army from a brutal purveyor of death, torture,
and mutilation, into a peace loving bunch of people who care about others. They
will drop their weapons and start hugging their enemies. There will be peace on
earth and Miss America contestants will finally get what they have always
wanted!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Imagined Gods, Mythical Gods, and even the one true
God could not or would not eliminate evil. All the world’s religions have not
been able to explain it. They call it a mystery that cannot be explained. They
say you must have faith that God knows what he is doing. Hairy decided that God
needed some help concerning this issue. He reasoned that if there was more “good”
in the world, then there would be less room for evil. He decided to search for
a way of creating more good.

Hairy Risk Taker, Jasmine
Loverly, Lois Lane, the Tsar and the Freelance Thinker all got together for
cocktails at Hairy’s luxurious villa on the island of Little Exuma. The purpose
of the meeting was to brainstorm ways of creating more good in the world. Hairy
reminded everyone of some basic rules for brainstorming: 1. We want lots of
ideas. 2. We encourage wild ideas. 3. We defer judgment and do not criticize other
people’s ideas. 4. We build on other people’s ideas. And remember, there are no
dumb ideas. The Tsar kicked the session off by suggesting that they drop a hydrogen
bomb on the Middle East. Hairy said, “Okey-dokey, that is certainly a wild
idea. Who is next?”